3 





S 




1 



MM 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
II 



II I 



mil mi in 
014 497 616 2 . 



/ 1* 334 

• B5 M7 

Conu 1 tenth is the coming El Dorado of American adventure. M nighty speed and 

f* * award progress!" So wrote the Hon. W. D. Kclley, M. C, of Pennsylvania a few 

and every day brings forth new i ,j s prediction and 

w- . without a doubl Lho South is to be the richest country upon the globe, in oliraate 

mineral and timber wealth, in rivers large and Bmall, in a long in abundant rainfall' 

in healthful nt ss, and in even other advantage that could be asked, nature Beems to have done her 

bent for this favored land. The wealth in Iron and Coal is beyond estin rimber there is 

an unlimited supply, including nearl] every variety of hard wo id-working purp 



AINING 

AND 

AANUFACTURING 

ADVANTAGES 

BESSEAER 

IN THE HEART OF 

/MNERAL ALABAAA 










1SS7—POPULA TION 
1SSS—POPULA Tl<>\ 
1SS0-POPULA TION 



20O 
•2,400 
5,200 




NEW OFFICE OF THE LAND CO.-I889. 

Seven Furnaces, output 1S1I0. - - - 250,000 tons 

Rolling Mills, - - - ■ ■ - 100 tons daily 

Fire Kriek Works, - 25,000 daily 

Many lesser Industries. 



OFFERS THIRTY VARIETIES OF HARD WOODS FOR 
WOOD-WORKING INDUSTRIES. 



THE BESSEMER LAND AND IMPROVEMENT CO. 
are prepared to deal Liberally for the founding of Iron and 
\V [-Working Industries in I his growing mining and man- 
ufacturing center. 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 
H. F. DeBARDELEBEN. 
\VM. A. COURTENAT. A. T. SMTTHE. 

DAVID ROBERTS. M. E LOPEZ. 

WM. BERNEY. A. M. ADGER. 



H. M. McNUTT, 



Secretary and Treasurer. 






"I I. A. K. McClure, of the Philadelphia Times, says: N'o citizen of the North of 
fair intelligence can review the slumbering wealth of Alabama without accepting the 
conclusion that the nexl generation will Bee this State an iron and coal center equal to, if 
no) surpassing Pennsylvania. ****•• 



INFORMATION 



ABOUT 



ALABAMA, 







••Ii is idle for Pennsylvania and other great iron and coal-producing States to close 
their eyes to the fact thai we have reached the beginning of a great revolution in I 
products. No legislation, no sound policy, do sentiment can halt such revolution when 
the immutable laws of trade command it; and the sudden tread of the hordes from the 
Northern forests upon am re suddenly threaten il»> majesty of the 

mistress of the world than does the tread of the iron and coal dif labama thn 

1 he ir, ni iron and coal fields. * * * Ti is , upon us 

plain as i lii ii laj sun, and it is midsummer madness not to read them understandingly. 

We cannot war with destiny; we canm the benefice; Him who leads the 

waters to the sea and sends them back in the dews and nun- of Heaven. Alabama has 
been gifted far beyond even our boasted empire of Pennsylvania, ami only the Southern 
sluggard has hitherto given the race to the North. Now there i- a uew South, with new 
teachings, new opportunities, new energies, ami manifestly a new destiny, ami the time 
i* ai hand when a large portion of the greal iron ami coal products of the country which 
enter competing centers will be supplied cheaper from Alabama than from any State in 

Mil." 



PRINTERS AND ENGRAVERS: 

LUCAS & RICHARDSON, 

CHARLESTON, S. C. 




H-c 



«•" 



. 



r 



f j 










MINIM: AM) MANUFACTURING ADVANTAGES 



BESSEMER. 



WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 







J 

*> 



Business facts are the most convinc- 
and effective when the plainest 
l. When the object istoconvey 
information, ami relying upon that 
information, I rtain results, 

the more scrupulously that informa- 
tion is divorced from all semb 

I ion or conjecture the n 
mpn nd effectual it becomes. 

The following pages contain a reci- 
tal and aggregation of facts, plainly and accurately stated and defined, 
which are submitted as a proposition from one business man to 
another may be — to those whose attention and interest it is desired 
to enlist — to practical, industrious workmen, skillei ins and 

reputable business men. 

The information thus presented is believed to be of sufficient value 
and interest to the classes cited as to insure tlnir consideration and 
to inspire that investigation and action as will best subserve the 
interests and destiny of each. 

The conditions of life and business in this great Republic have not 
yet become so stable, remunerative <>r satisfactory as to neutralize 
that migratory tendency and disposition which has so noticeably 
distinguished the American people, and the effects of which is s< 
in the greatest development and most wonderful progn irded 

in the world's history. The enlarged personal freedom guarant 
by our institutions inspires ambition, which seeks the best and most 
favorable field for labor and gratification. When the advantages and 
opportunities of one section have been absorbed, or exhausted, or 
monopolized, recourse is had to another. The incentive to better 
one's condition is inherent in every intelligent, progressive .wu\ ambi- 
tious American mind. 

3 



The city of Bessemer, Alabama, and the section which in a com- 
mercial, manufacturing, mining, agricultural and industrial sense is 
tributary to it, presents a field, the resources, advantages and attrac- 
tions of which are outlined in these pages, and their superiority will 
be made evident in the discussion and support by indisputable facts 
of the following premises, preceding their discussion with a brief 
reference to the location, founding and progress of the city. 

PREMISES. 

There is no place on this continent, if there be in the world, 

where the conditions 
for the 

PRODUCTION' OF IRON 

exist in so complete, 
practical and economi- 
cal a form and combi- 
nation as they do at 
and immediately trib- 
utary to the city of 
Bessemer. 

There is no location 
in the South, if there 
be in the whole coun- 
try, more suitable, ad- 
vantageous or better 
adapted for 

New Office Building Bessemer Land and Improvement Company. 

GENERAL MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES 

by reason of a wealth of raw material in the greatest abundance and 
economically available, a central commercial position and superior 
facilities for distribution and delivery, than the city of Bessemer and 
its vicinage. 

There is no portion of this country offering a more certain or gen- 
erous return to the 

TRUCK FARMER AND DAIRYMAN 

than the territory in immediate proximity to Bessemer. 

There is no section of the South more attractive or desirable for 

RESIDENCE AND HOME 

by reason of its natural and picturesque beauty ; its prime conditions 
of salubrity ; its medium temperature ; even rainfall ; pure and abun- 
dant water supply; thorough natural drainage; the absence of 
stagnant water or swampy lands and of noxious insects and vermin; 

4 




and an abundance and infinite variety of the bounties and fruits of 
the earth than the section at and immediately surrounding the city 
of Bessemer. 

There is no point in the country that will afford a safer or more 
stable return to the labor, skill, enterprise or capital of the 

WORKINGMAN, MECHANK WI' BUSINESS MAN 

by reason of opportunities f<>r employment and industrial pursuit-,; 
the advantages for mining and manufacturing enterprises; the induce- 
ments for commercial effort and venture, and the needs and demands 
for the judicious investment of capital than the city of Bessemer. 

Till. CITY OF BESSEMER 

is in North Alabama, midway between the Eastern anil Western 
boundary State lines, and about of miles north of the centre 

of the State. It is located in the lower section "i Jon.-- Valley, 
where it broadens into a vast amphitheatre, a spur of mountains 
being projected across its face, and forming its southwestern limit. 
This valley, with slightly varying width, extends thirteen miles to 
the northeast, where Birmingham is located. It is bounded on the 
southeast by the Red Mountain range, and on the southwest or 
opposite side by the Rock Mountain range. With a width of a mile 
and a half at Birmingham the valley gradually broadens until at 
Bessemer it is three to three and a half miles from range to ran<jc. 

This anticlinal valley is distinguished in geological history as 
being at one time the scene of an intense seismic disturbance or 
upheaval, which projected the subcarboniferous stratas of limestone 
to the surface, leaving them in vertical or distorted ledges, throw ing to 
one side immense seams and massesof ferruginous rock, now forming 
the mightiest and most wonderful iron deposits in the world, while 
on the other side vast lie. is and fields of coal were disclosed. Thus 
inclose juxtaposition are the complementary elements that com- 
bined creates the most powerful and economic factor in modern 
civilization. 

This great upheaval gave features to the scenery strikingly pic- 
turesque and beautiful. Heavily wooded hills and mountains; large 
is of fertile valley and uplands; innumerable bold flowing springs 
of free ami mineral waters, clear, cool and limpid; swift running 
streams ; the most perfect drainage : a wealth of beautiful and attrac- 
tive verdure and a magnificent forest growth of the lordly oak, the 
stately pine, the graceful cedar and the rich foliaged hickory, the 
walnut, chestnut, ash ami elm. 

Thesiti B :mer is over six hundred feet above sea level and 
the bordering foothills and mountains will give an additional eleva- 
tion of from two to five hundred feet. 

5 



Bessemer was founded in the springof 1S87; the first sale of lots 
taking place on the 12th day of April of that year. 

The city has now a population of over 5,000. It has a regular 
municipal government under a charter granted by the State legisla- 
ture. It supports free public schools; is constantly prosecuting a 
system of street and public improvements; has secured the establish- 
ment of costly and extensive water-works ; has established and is 
constantly extending a system of sewerage; has erected a large and 
expensive city hall ; has the streets of the city lighted by electricity ; 
sustains an efficient fire department, and is zealous in its efforts to 
promote the growth and interests of the city. 

A detailed enumeration of the industries and business houses 
and establishments of the city, with descriptions of the more prom- 
inent constructions with other specific information may be found on 
other pages. 

For specific information as to the geographical location of the 
city and its relation to contiguous points, mountain ranges, water 
courses, and the existence of valuable natural resources, references 
is made to the maps herewith attached. 

THE PRODUCTION OF IRON. 

The elements entering into the production of pig iron are iron 
ore, coke and limestone. 

IRON ORE. 

The geology of Alabama shows the existence at Bessemer of a 
mountain of fossiliferous hematite or red fossiliferous iron ore. This 
mountain, which is a range of mountains, forming the southeast 
boundary of the valley in which Bessemer is located, is within a 
stone's throw of the corporate limits of the city (as will be seen from 
the map attached) and has a varying height above the valley of from 
two hundred and fifty to fixe hundred feet. The ore is in regular 
veins or stratas varying in thickness from five to twenty feet, with 
medium partings, aggregating at this point a thickness of fort}- feet 
iron ore within a sixty foot measurement at right angles to their 
direction. 

The ore veins crop out on the summit or on the northwestern 
trend of the range. At Bessemer there were found uncovered at the 
highest point, immense ledges of the ore, moss covered, for decades 
past forming obstructions in the pathway of the hunter and to 
stock on the range, much to the disgust of the native, who saw no 
value in or use for these "huge red rocks," or as many termed the 
out-crop "dye rocks." The stratas of ore have a declination to the 
southeast of about thirty degrees. They have been traced and fol- 
lowed far into Shades Valley (which is bounded on the southwest by 

6 



Red Mountain range), where they show practically the same inclina- 
tion, thickness of vein and quality of ore. By some geologists it is 
asserted that similar to the coal basins of the Black Warrior Coal 
fields, these stratas of ore deposits likewise form an immense basin, 
reaching a level in the course of a distance of four or less miles, then 
rising at a similar angle crop out at the summit or southeastern trend 
of the Sand Mountains, forming the right or west bank of the 
Cahaba River. This theory, if sustained by facts, determines the 
existence of the most remarkable and enormous body of ore in the 
world, under conditions of the most surprising economy for mining, 
with billions of tons above the water level. But in the absence of a 
basin formation centuries of persistent mining with yearly outputs 
of ore sufficient to make the present iron product of the United 
States will not exhaust the deposits within four miles of Bessemer. 

The Red Mountain range covering the outcrop of this extraor- 
dinary deposit of iron ore extends for many miles in a northeasterly 
and southwesterly direction, but at no point do the veins show such 
a remarkable thickness, such unusual purity of the ore and absence 
of silica, and such astounding economical conditions for mining as 
at Bessemer. Hence four-fifths of the total out put of iron ore in 
the State of Alabama is mined within four miles # of the city of Bes- 
semer, and from these mines ores are furnished to the Chattanooga, 
Gadsden, Birmingham, Ensley City and many other furnaces. 

Besides the deposits of the Red Mountain range, the Rock 
Mountains bordering the Bessemer Valley on the southwest, separat- 
ing it from the great Black Warrior Coal fields contains large 
deposits of both the red and brown ores. A mile to the west of 
Bessemer an immense body of brown hematite has been uncovered, 
and a few miles to the southwest, at Greeley and Gothite, are the 
largest bodies and masses of brown hematite ore, as well as the 
most famous in this country. These deposits are owned by the 
DeBardeleben Coal and Iron Company and the Thomas Pioneer Iron 
Company. 

The ore is mined at Bessemer, and loaded into tram cars at a 
varying cost of from thirty-five to forty-five cents per ton. The 
freight from the mines to the furnaces in Bessemer ranges from three 
to five dollars per car of thirty to thirty-five tons. The red ores 
yield practically from forty to fifty per cent, of metal while assaying 
from forty-five to sixty-three per cent., while the brown ores yield 
forty-five to fifty-five per cent, while assaying fifty to sixty-five per 
cent. 

The red ores can be delivered at the furnaces at a cost of about 
fifty cents per ton, while the brown ores cost from twenty-five to 
fifty per cent. more. 

The red ores are mined by improved drill machinery, run by 

8 



Compressed air ; the veins being laminated, cleave readily and regu- 
larly, immense masses of man}- tons being precipitated at a single 
blast. The ore as mined is ready for the furnace. The cap stone 
overlying the ore stratas is of compact sandstone or conglomerate, so 
that but little if any expense for timbering is incurred. 

These ores are mined from slopes entering from the crown of the 
range and from lateral drifts entering the veins at its breaks or passes. 

COAL. 

There are 9,000 square miles of coal fields in Northern Alabama, 
covering in many places series of scams showing a vertical depth of 
from forty to ninety feet of coal. The Black Warrior Coal fields 
contains nine-tenths of this area, and are divided from the valley at 
Bessemer" by the Rock Mountain range. The coal measures of this 
division reach to within one mile of the corporate limits of the city. 
The Cahaba Coal fields, the next largest and richest division, lie 
some half a dozen miles to the south of Bessemer. The bulk of coal 
from both of these fields is of excellent coking quality. The remain- 
ing division, and the smaller and least important, is the Coosa Coal 
fields in Northeast Alabama. 

The Blue Creek basin, in the Warrior Coal fields, belonging to 
the DeBardeleben Coal and Iron Company, lies five miles southwest 
of Bessemer. It is the richest and most remarkable field of coal in 
the South. It crops out for miles along the line of the Bessemer and 
Tuscaloosa Railroad, and slopes in at an angle of about twelve to 
twenty degrees. At a distance of about thirteen hundred feet the 
level or basin is reached, which is maintained for three or four hun- 
dred feet, when the same degree of ascent begins, and the coal crops 
out on the opposite side of the basin. The main seam now being 
worked is nine feet in thickness. Thirty-five feet beneath this is 
another seam of four feet, which is entered from the level or basin, 
and is worked by the machinery and through the slopes of the main 
seam, thus enabling thirteen feet of coal to be worked from one 
slope. From three slopes now open 2,500 tons daily can be taken. 
The production can be readily increased to 4,000 tons daily by the 
extension of slopes now partially completed. 

The Bessemer Blue Creek coal makes a coke not excelled in this 
country, as will be seen from the analysis. A careful estimate of the 
coal in the Blue Creek basin, in the two seams described available 
for mining, shows that it will afford a daily output of 10,000 tons for 
250 years. Other workable seams below the two mentioned exist, 
but no effort has been made to locate them, as there will be no occa- 
sion for their development for decades, if for centuries to come. 

In the Blue Creek mines, during the prevalence of the present 
price of pig iron, the miners receive forty-two and one-half cents per 

10 



ton for mining and delivery, furnishing their own tools, mining sup- 
plies and doing their own track laying. They make better wages 
than miners elsewhere receiving fifty to ninety cents per ton, while 
the expense of the operator in delivering for shipment is but trifling 
compared to the expense of mines generally. The railroad rate for 
transportation to Bessemer is $3.50 per car of thirty-five tons. 

Coal is delivered in Bessemer at a cost of less than 80 cents a 
ton to the operator, and coke is made from it in Bessemer at a cost 
of about $1.75 per ton. 

The Woodward Coal mines are three miles from Bessemer. 
While the Pratt Coal mines, the most famous, but far from the 
richest, are eight miles, and the Blocton mines from which Anniston 
obtains all of its coal, are twenty miles to the southwest. 

There are within twenty-five miles of Bessemer 600,000 acres of 
coal fields, which at lowest estimate will practically yield 30,000,000,- 
000 tons. A daily supply of 10,000 tons for 8,000 years. 

LIMESTONE. 

The Trenton limestone crops out vertically throughout Jones 
Valley, and at points it is found in enormous masses, projected 
high above the level of the valley and in places forming the bulk of 
huge mountains. This is noticeably the case at Gate City, sixteen 
miles above Bessemer. The limestone is of the purest quality, 
analyzing 98 per cent, of lime. It is delivered at the Bessemer fur- 
naces at sixty cents per ton. 

THE COST OF PIG IRON. 

It would be interesting to give quotations as to the actual cost 
of producing iron in Bessemer, but there are so many vaiying condi- 
tions in mining the component parts as also so many elements in 
the economics of furnace work, that it would not be possible to give 
figures that would be accurate for the whole, and individual exhibits 
would serve no good purpose in this narrative. Suffice it to use the 
pregnant words of Ex-Mayor Hewitt, of New York, who says: 

"This section of Alabama is the only place on the North Amer- 
ican Continent where it is possible to make iron in competition with 
the cheap iron of England." 

OFFICIAL AND EMINENT AUTHORITY 

on the iron ores, coal deposits and iron making resources of Bes- 
semer : 

Prof. Henry McCalley, A. M., C. & M. E. Chemist and assistant 
State Geologist of Alabama, says of the red fossiliferous ore of Bes- 
semer: "This famous ore is specially well developed there, where 
with its partings of shale it reaches an average thickness of some 

12 



thirty feet, well defined between strata of non-ferruginous sandstone^ 
and is of superior quality both as to purity and richness. This 
deposit is not only the largest in the State, but is regarded as one of 
the mineral wonders of the world." 

Prof. McCalley speaking of the Warrior Coal fields says: "The 
measures thicken and become more productive of coal from the 
northeast to the southwest until they reach a thickness of 3,000 feet 
with about fifty seams of coal. These seams of coal range in thick- 
ness from a few inches to some 14 feet, and at least thirty-five of 
them with a total thickness of about 90 feet are of workable thick- 
ness, or are of 19 inches and more in thickness. * * * The 
Warrior Coal fields is destined in the near future to be the center of 
large industries, and to be one of the greatest coal producing areas 
in the United States." 

Hon. Abram S. Hewitt says this section "is the only place upon 
the North American Continent where it is possible to make iron in 
competition with the cheap iron of England." 

Mr. Hewitt has lately stated in England that iron can be made 
here at a cost of $7.50 per ton. 

Col. A. K. McClure says he believes this section "will be the 
future coal and iron empire of the United States." 

ANALYSES OF BESSEMER IRON ORE, COAL AND COKE. 

IRON ORE — RED ORE FROM LARGE VIEN NEAR BESSEMER, ANALYZED 
BY CHAUVENET & BLAIR. 

Silica I2.l8 

Peroxide iron 80.92 

Alumina 2.68 

Lime 0.28 

Magnesia 0.39 

Phosphoric acid 0.292 

Water 2.960 

99.702 
Metallic iron 56.64 

IRON ORE — RED ORE FROM LARGE VEIN NEAR BESSEMER. 

Water 2.30 

Peroxide iron 76.16 

Silica 1 8.40 

Alumina 1.74 

Carbonate lime 0.3 1 

Phosphorus O.67 

Sulphur O.28 

99.86 

Metallic Iron. . . 53-31 

Phosphorus 0. 18 

14 



IRON ORE RED HEMATITE, M BARDELEBEN COAL AND [RON COM- 
PANY MINES, Ml RPHREE'S VALLEY. 

Sesqui-oxide of iron 83.6807 

Phosphoric acid 0.3 

Silicic acid 1 1.193 

Metallic iron 5 s ?,"" 

Phosphorus 0.14S 

Silica 0.93 

[RON ORE BROWN HEMATITE, DE BARDELEBEN COAL VND [RON 

I 1 >\n\\\\ . S( 'I I 1IWI SI "1 B1 SSEMER. 

Silica 4-307 

Metallic iron 57-50 

Phosphorus 0.3142 

(AL- FROM THE BESSEMER BLU1 CREEK BASIN MINES. 

Moisture Ad., 2 1 2 deg., Fahr 4.307 

Volatile -7 557 

Fixed carbon 66.219 

Sulphur 0.656 

Ash 483 



100. 
C< IKE MAPI'. FR( >M BLUI CREEK BASIN COA1 . 

Moisture 0.25 

Volatile 0.4 

Fixed carbon 92.3268 

Sulphur O.8232 

Ash 62 



100. 
GENERAL MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES. 

The most essential requisites for successful manufacturing are: 

An ample supply of raw material at low cost. 

An eligible location with economical conveniences and favorable 
surrounding conditions for the home and satisfaction of labor. 

A central commercial position, with ample and competing facili- 
ties for distribution and easy accessibility to markets. 

Iron, steel and wood are largely the basis and hulk of nearly all 
manufactures. Iron is produced at the least cost at Bessemer of any 
place on the Western continent. Steel of the best quality can be 
made by the basic process from Red Mountain pig iron at a much 
less cost than steel has ever been made before in this country. Both 
iron and steel are rolled or manufactured into merchantable forms of 
almost every conceivable degree by the Bessemer Rolling Mills. 

15 



Timber of nearly all of the most merchantable varieties covers 
this section. Lumber from the resinous or yellow pire is sold in 
Bessemer from $8 to $ioper thousand feet. Cedar is in great abund- 
ance, while the different kinds of oak, ash, g.um, black walnut, hickory 
and other varieties of forest growth are found in the territory sur- 
rounding and tributary to Bessemer in enormous quantities and 
available at a remarkably low cost. 

Fire clay and chert for fire brick and furnace blocks, clay for 
building brick, pure sand for glass making, crystalized limestone or 
marble for finishing or ornamentation, quarries of both sand and 
limestone for building purposes are here in immense beds. 

Cotton is largely raised in this section. 

The expanse of the valley at Bessemer, with the radiating lines 
of competing railways and an abundant water supply gives innumer- 
able eligible sites for manufacturing enterprises, and with an inex- 
haustible supply of fuel at a minimum of cost surrounds their estab- 
lishment with conditions of convenience and economy that cannot 
be rivalled, while the healthy conditions of climate, the beauty and 
attractiveness of the country, ample school and church facilities, 
opportunities for enjoyment and diversion, abundant and reasonable 
produce markets, fair rentals and easy opportunities for securing 
homes, makes residence for all classes here a pleasure and homes 
eagerly sought. 

The position of Bessemer commercially, geographically, and as 
a distributing point is singularly advantageous and central. It is 
midway between New Orleans and Louisville, Savannah and St. 
Louis, Mobile and Nashville, Atlanta and Memphis, Meridian and 
Chattanooga, with each of which she has quick railroad communi- 
cation. 

Seven lines of railway now run to Bessemer and three other lines 
are surveyed and in process of construction. A full description of 
Bessemer's Railway system is given on another page and an accurate 
idea of it is obtainable by a reference to the map. 

Any one seeking openings for manufacturingof almost any char- 
acter can determine from the information here given the degree of 
advantage that Bessemer will afford. 

Of the various lines of manufacture those which find a lucrative 
and expanding market in the great West and Southwest will find in 
Bessemer a location unrivalled for their establishment. For the 
more bulky creations of iron, steel and woodwork, whether in the 
shape of a steam engine and kindred constructions, of enormous 
castings of iron or steel, or of agricultural implements or of furniture 
and builders' supplies, the advantages of position here will immedi- 
ately command the discriminating mind. Beside the inexhaustible 
supply of raw materials, the eligibility and advantage of situation, 

10 




■""" 







the distributing facilities of this city are remarkably complete and 
comprehensive. Bessemer is the converging point of four grand 
systems of railway lines, which with their branches and connections 
cover the great West and Southwest, viz : the Louisville and Nash- 
ville system, reaching the Gulf ports and connecting with the South- 
ern Pacific and Mexican Railways; the Queen and Crescent, crossing 
the Mississippi at both Vicksburg and New Orleans; the Georgia 
Pacific, crossing the Mississippi at Greenville, and the Kansas City, 
Memphis and Birmingham, crossing the Mississippi at Memphis. 

Through the medium of these lines that enormous territory is 
reached and its markets made tributary to the manufactures of this 
city. Bessemer is not only the nearest distributing, point to that 
vast territory, but is noticeably central to all of the Southern mar- 
kets, and especially accessible to the growing markets of the West 
India Islands, Mexican, Central and South America. The enormous 
possibilities of development in these latter fields is now largely 
engaging the attention of business men and statesmen in this country, 
and it is safe to predict that but a brief period will elapse before the 
demand for and consumption of the manufactured products of this 
country will be increased many fold. 

In the fabrication of textile products the conditions are so 
favorable and superior that the establishment of this industry on a 
large scale is a matter of immediate and momentous interest. With 
fine grades of cotton raised in abundance, at hand, a specially favor- 
able climate, and the cheapest supplies of fuel possible, there seems 
no essential wanting to insure the foundation here of this important 
industry. The field for the manufacture of textile fabric in all grades 
is here illimitable. 

Of the minor and novelty manufactures, the proximity of mar- 
kets, the availability of material and facilities for distribution are 
potent factors in promoting and securing their establishment. 

FRUIT CULTURE AND TRUCK FARMING. 

The concentration of population affords a regular and stable 
market for the products of the truck farmer, fruit grower, poultry 
raiser and dairyman. Their most liberal and steady patrons are the 
skillful wage earner and the miner; those who earn good wages and 
spend the same freely for their table supplies. 

Before the development of iron production in this section, Jones 
Valley and the contiguous valleys and table lands were regarded as 
generously productive, yielding freely of cotton, corn, wheat, oats, 
and all kinds of vegetables and fruits. A half bale of cotton, forty 
bushels of corn, twenty of wheat and forty of oats to the acre were 
not unusual results, and with ordinary good cultivation and attention 
the yield will now exceed these figures. 

18 



The soil is of a red, sandy, clayey loam, deep and inclined to be 
tenacious. It retains fertilizers and manures admirably, and when 
thus stimulated and fed, there seems no limit to the extent of pro- 
duction. This has been especially demonstrated in tracts devoted to 
gardening or truck farming, which yield frequently products of a 
value of over three hundred dollars to the acre annually. Home- 
made manures are especially beneficial. 

With moderate fertilizing and careful and deep cultivation, 
good yields are almost certainties. The exigencies of the climate 
seldom affect the crops. The distribution of the rainfall is generally 
regular and seasonable. 

STOCK RAISING AND DAIRYING. 

Prior to the late war the farmers did not regard this valley and 
section as possessing advantages for stock raising. Though the range 
was unlimited, yet the grazing was inferior, the native grasses being 
scant and of poor quality; clover had not been introduced, and blue 
and June grass and red top would not take without fertilizing. 
Hence, only a moderate quantity of stock was raised. But soon 
after the'close of the war the farmers noticed a strange grass or 
plant growing in the commons, and in the timber, the valleys, and 
even upon the summits or crowns of high mountains. It seemed to 
cover the surface of the country almost as it were in a night. The 
cattle, horses, sheep and hogs grazed it with avidity and rapidly fat- 
tened and flourished. The plant would grow, take deep root and 
form a mass of verdure in what before were barren places, even in 
deeped washed gullies. 

This grass was discovered to be the now famous Lespedeza or 
Japan clover. It was introduced into Florida from Japan before 
the war. By some providential means — how, it is not known, but 
supposed to be through the medium of cavalry horses — it was intro- 
duced into this section and other sections of the South. It has been 
a perfect windfall. It is one of the richest forage grasses. Stock of 
all kinds thrive upon it. A glance at the stock, always sleek and in 
fine condition, grazing in this valley, will impress any observer with 
the conviction that this must be a superb stock country. 

The finer grades of cattle, the Jerseys, Alderneys, &c, flourish 
as readily as the more hardy native born. The flow of milk and the 
yield of butter is as abundant as in any section, and the universal 
existence and general distribution of cold, clear, free flowing springs 
make this an almost ideal dairy country. 

FRUIT GROWING. 

Travelers through this section see numerous old orchards of 
the apple, peach, cherry and pear. In former times old settlers 

20 



assert that there was an abundance of fruit raised, and fruit of the 
finest varieties. It is still abundant and of excellent quality, but 
orchards have been neglected and have somewhat deteriorated. 
The farmers failing to adapt themselves to the necessities and 
advantages of changed conditions resort to the mines and furnaces 
where they can the more readily realize from their labor. But that 
the climate and country is adapted to the various kinds of fruit suf- 
ficient practically is seen on every side. 

The grape thrives vigorously and small fruit of nearly all kinds 
are in their prime. The country is covered with the dew and black- 
berry, the whortleberry, the plum and the persimmon. The straw- 
berry reaches its highest development. 

Various kind of nut trees are found in the forests, which bear 
bountifully. Among them the walnut, the hickory and the chestnut. 

POULTRY RAISING. 

This section of Alabama seems to be a natural home for the 
fowl. The earlier settlers found the woods swarming with the wild 
turkey, the pigeon, and the partridge, and the domestic breed of 
fowls thrive to perfection. Immense quantities are now raised. In 
some instances artificial hatching or the use of large incubators is 
resorted to, and invariably with great success, but in spite of the 
present extent of the industry and the large quantities of eggs and 
chickens marketed, the demand is far from being met by the supply. 

There is every requisite here for successful poultry raising, and 
no more profitable field for it can be found in any country. 

LANDS. 

For stock raising and dairying, truck farming and fruit growing 
lands sell within an area of five or six miles from Bessemer from six 
to one hundred dollars per acre. There are thousands of acres 
overlying the ore beds and coal measures that are fertile and suscep- 
tible of large yields and easily brought into cultivation. 

RESIDENCE AND HOME. 

Enough information has been presented in the listing of facts 
on previous subjects to clearly establish the premise that Bessemer 
and its environs possess superior attractions for residence and home. 
All character of sites, in valley, upland, highland or mountain, 
covered with greenest sward, richest foliage or grandest forest 
growths, are available. The climate is superb, with an average mean 
winter temperature of 42 Fah., a mean summer temperature of J2° 
Fah., and a mean annual temperature of 58 Fah., with an abundant 
and pure water supply, and an average yearly rainfall of 54 inches. 

22 



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J, 



Quick and frequent communications exists throughout the valley 
and to all parts of the country. With these attributes, indisputable, 
the requisites for a residence and home are afforded in their most 
attractive form. 

THE WORKMAN, MECHANIC AND BUSINESS MAN 

can certainly find a fitting field in this section for their labor and their 
enterprise. Millions and billions of wealth is here dormant, in 
nature's greatest, richest storehouse. Thousands and thousands are 
daily wrought from it and thrown into the channels of business and 
industrial life. 10,000 tons of coal and 5,000 tons of iron ore are 
daily mined, the first within an area of fifteen miles, the latter within 
an area of six miles of the city of Bessemer, and yet the development 
so far is scarcely noticeable. 

$150,000 is paid out monthly in mining, furnaces, rolling mills 
and other industries within a distance of four miles centering at 
Bessemer. 

Can there be a more inviting prospect to the laborer, the arti- 
san, or the business man? 

THE RAILWAY SYSTEM OF BESSEMER. 

In an area of four blocks, nine lines of railways center: 

The Queen and Crescent Railroad. 

The Louisville and Nashville Mineral Line. 

The Bessemer and Huntsville Railroad. 

The Georgia Pacific Railroad. 

The Kansas City, Memphis and Bessemer. 

The Bessemer and Tuscaloosa Railroad. 

Bessemer and Birmingham Railway. 

All of these lines are running to Bessemer. The Bessemer and 
Huntsville is completed as far as Chepultepec, sixty miles on the 
way up Murphree's Valley, with its ultimate terminal point at 
Huntsville. 

The Bessemer and Tuscaloosa is completed to Woodstock, a 
distance of thirty miles, lacking only eighteen miles of reaching 
Tuscaloosa. At Woodstock this line connects with the Blocton Coal 
Mines Railway. 

The line of the Mobile and Bessemer Railroad will center in this 
area. This road, which is part of that great Southern system, the 

EAST TENNESSEE, VIRGINIA AND GEORGIA, 

under a new local organization, is now being rapidly graded to 
Bessemer from Blocton, which is on the line of survey of the Mobile 
and Bessemer, and from Montevallo which is directly south of Bes- 
semer on the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia line. From these 

24 





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two points these two lines converge and meet about ten miles below 
Bessemer, and come to this city over one track. An immense force 
is now at work grading this line. It is expected that it will be fully 
completed and trains running to Bessemer by July, 1890. At this 
point this line for the time being will use the tracks of the Georgia 
Pacific to Birmingham. It is stated that this great system will 
extend branches to the various iron ore and coal mines throughout 
this section. From Bessemer this line will be extended to Huntsville 
to connect there with the Memphis and Charleston, which belongs 
to this system. The completion of this line to Bessemer, gives this 
city another competing and trunk line to the Gulf, through trains 
running from this point to Mobile. 

The Sheffield & Bessemer Railroad is projected to Bessemer. 
It is now built as far as Jasper, forty miles northwest of Bessemer. 

The Birmingham, Powderly & Bessemer Street Railway, con- 
necting the two cities, Birmingham and Bessemer, is completed and 
running to Hillman, within three miles of Bessemer, and is graded 
to this city. It will run down the center of Jones Valley, parallel- 
ing largely the Alabama Great Southern Railroad track. This line 
completed makes the fourth line of railway in Jones Valley, connect- 
ing Bessemer and Birmingham. 

A Belt line connects all the lines of the city and encircles the 
manufacturing section, affording most perfect transportation con- 
veniences for our various industries. 

A railroad has been partly built, branching off to the west, 
northwest from the Bessemer & Tuscaloosa Railroad, passing into 
and through an unusually rich coal field of coking coal, eighteen 
miles west of Bessemer. 

This coal field, adjoining and lying north of the famous Blue 
Creek Coal Basin, is directly tributary to Bessemer, and in but a year 
or two its yearly output of a million tons or more will pass into and 
through this city. 

There are now, at least, twenty miles of railroad sidings in Bes- 
semer, and these are already overtasked by the traffic developed. 

The Alabama Great Southern, the Louisville and Nashville, the 
Georgia Pacific, and the Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingham 
Railroads each have depot buildings in Bessemer already con- 
structed. 

The map attached will give an excellent idea of Bessemer's rail- 
way system, 



20 



The [qcUistries &f Besseitfer, 



The leading industries and enterprises of B< n r, established 
and in operat i' >n, are : 

THE FURNACES. 

Till Dl BARD] I I BEN COAl AND [RON COMPANY CON- 
SOLIDATED, CAPITA] §10,000,000 

In December last the DeBardel >al and Iron 

npany of tins city, owning the two new 125 ton 
furnaces now in blast in this city, 480 coke < >\ in^ ad- 
joining its furnace plant : 200 coke uncus at Johns, at 
the Blue Crock Mines, some five miles of railway in 
connection with it- furnaces and coke ovens; the cel- 
ebrated Bessemer Blue Creek Coal Mines, some forty 
thousand acres of the richest coal lands in the South; 
a large area <>f the Red Mountain Iron On Mines, 
ntering at Sparks' Gap, three mile- from Bessemer, 
anil many thousands of acres of brown and red hema- 
tite ore lands southwest of Bessemer, at Greeley and 
in Murphree's Valley, and thousands of acres of coal 
lands in the latter valley; and tie I'. - mer Iron and 
i Company, owning two furnaces, which have just 
gone into blast, each 17 feet bosh by J? in height, 
with daily capacity of 125 tons, and six W'hitwell 
improved ovens or stoves, various auxiliary structures, 
cast and stock houses ^\nA engine house already com- 
pleted and of most elaborate and substantial con- 
struction, ami adjoining its furnace plant two 
immense batteries of coke ovens, each of 200 o\ ■ 
400 in all; the rich Henry Ellen Coal Mines, now 
yielding Soo tons of coal daily, besides many thou- 
sand acres of other coal and red and brown hematite 
ore lands; and the Little Belle lion Company having 
a seventy-five ton 15 feet bosh charcoal or coke 
iron furnace just completed and now ready to be put 
in blast, and the Eureka Furnace Company, owning 
the two 100 ton furnaces at Oxmoor, and five miles 
of the richest section of the Red Mountain iron ore 

27 



deposits, with scams showing a vertical face of twenty 
feet of ore; the famous Helena Coal Mines, in the 
Cahaba coal fields, were consolidated and formed into 
one company, to be known as the DeBardelebcn C oal 
and Iron Company Consolidated, of Bessemer, having 
a capital of $10,000,000, and owning 140,000 acres of 
the best mineral lands — iron ore and coal — in the 
South. 

This Company carries nearly 2000 men on its pay 
rolls, which aggregate fully $75. 000 each month. 

ROLLING MILLS. 

The Bessemer Rolling Mills, Capitai $ 500,000 

Have the largest plant in the South. They have 24 
puddling furnaces and seven trains or mills. The ca- 
pacity of the mills is 100 tons daily. The machinery 
is of the heaviest and most elaborate character, and 
was specially purchased of a character and strength 
to roll steel. 

The mills have a department for the manufac- 
ture of corrugated iron, and turn out five to ten tons 
daily. 

About 700 hands are employed regularly. 

The Rolling Mills have been in operation since 
August 1, 1888. 

FOUNDRIES AND MACHINE SHOPS. 

G. W. Beggs & Bros., Foundry and Machine Shops, 

Capital $ 50,000 

A large plant, castings, construction and repairing, 
employ 25 to 35 men. 

Birmingham & Bessemer Railway Machine Shops, 

Capital $ 20,000 

Repairing and construction. 

PLANING AND SAW MILLS. 

Bessemer Manufacturing Company, Capital $ 50,000 

All kinds of wood working machinery. Furniture 
manufactured. Employs from 40 to 60 hands. 

The Steel City Lumber Company, Capitai $ 10,000 

Manufactures pine and hard lumber, and various kinds 
of dressed building materials. 

38 



TERRA COTTA, SEWER PIPE, FIRE AND BUILDING 

BRICK. 

The Bessemer Fire Brick Company, Capital S 50,000 

Manufactures fire brick and furnace blocks, sewer 
pipe and terra cotta; lias the largest plant in this 
country; employs 175 men at yards and clay banks. 

Bessemer Brick Company, Capitai S 50,000 

I las a capacity of 50,000 brick daily. Employs abi mt 
50 men. 

Marvel City Brick Company, Capitai S 25,000 

I la- a capacity of $5,000 daily, Employs 35 hands. 

• .1 re's Brick Yard, Capitai S 10,000 

Capacity of 25,000 daily. 

Tin i'i eri 1 ss Brick and Construction Co., Capital.! 40,000 
Just being established, with improved machinery to 
make the finest pressed brick and blocks, with a capaci- 
ty of IOO.OOO brick daily — the largest in the State. 

ICE MANUFACTURING. 

BESSEMIR IlK ManUFA< TORY AND STORAGE COMPANY, 

Capitai S 15,000 

Have a large plant in operation, furnish ice fur city 
consumption and adjacent towns. 

MINERAL WATER MANUFACTURING. 

Bessemer Mineral Water Manufactory, Capital, $ 5,000 

Manufactures in large quantities mineral and aerated 

water- of all kinds, for consumption in city and sur- 
rounding towns. 

NEWSPAPERS AND JOB PRINTING. 

Bessemer Printing am. Publishing Co., Capital..! 40,000 

Publishes the " BESSEMER," and does book and job 

work. 

Bessi m 1 k J( >i rnal, Capitai .$ 5,000 

Newspaper and job office. 

FLOUR MILLS. 

iard's Flouring Mills, Capitai $ 3,000 

METAL WORK. 

Hi ssemer Cornice Works, Capital $ 5,000 

Manufactures metal cornices, facades, &c. 

29 



CARRIAGE AND WAGON MANUFACTURING. 

Morris & Mims Carriage Shops, Capitai § 3,000 

Construction and repairing. 

DUMMY LINES. 

The Bessemer Dummy Line. Capitai $ 200,000 

(Latch- chartered as the Bessemer & Birmingham 
R. R.) has 19 miles of track, 5 engines, 15 cars, runs 
from Bessemer up Jones Valley to Birmingham, twenty 
passenger trains daily, carries freight and passengers. 

Birmingham, Powderly & Bessemer Railway, Cap- 
ital $ 250,000 

Bessemer to Birmingham, south side Jones Valley, 
owned by Bessemer, Valley and Birmingham interests. 

ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER. 
Bessemer Electric Light and Power Company, 

Capital .... $ 50,000 

Have large brick plant. Lights the city, furnaces 
and rolling mills, and supplies private consumers with 
arc and incandescent lights. 

WATER WORKS. 
Bessemer Water Works Company, Capital and 

Cost $ 125,000 

Has extensive plant, 2,000,000 gallons capacity daily. 

DYNAMITE FACTORY. 

Standard Dynamite Factory, Capital $ 25,000 

Manufactures standard Dynamite. 

BANKS. 

First National Bank of Bessemer, Capital paid in, $ 50.000 

Total Capital $11,343,000 

And to this list and aggregate can also be properly 
added — 
The Woodward Coal and Iron Company, Capital. .$ 1,000,000 
Having two large furnaces, 17x75 feet, each of a ca- 
pacity of 125 tons of pig iron daily, and iron ore and 
coal mines within two miles of the furnaces. 

These furnaces are but a mile from Bessemer, 
and the employment given there and the trade of 
the place inures largely to the benefit of this city. 

Adding the amount of the capital of this com- 
pany to the total before given gives an aggregate of . .$12,343,000 

30 



Iii addition to these industries, the iron ore mines 
of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company, the Sloss 
Iron and Steel Company, and the Woodward Iron 
Company, which are within a quarter of a mile of the 
city limits of Bessemer, and which employ regularly 
between too and 800 hand-, can very properly be 
called Bessemer industries, as the trade and support 
of their employees centers largely in this city. 

In addition to these specific industries, there are 
large and important enterprises here, which by heavy 
investments and extensive construction and improve- 
ments and the use "i" large capital, are contributing 
greatly to the growth and development of Bessemer, 
as follows : 

LAND AND BUILDING COMPANIES. 

The Bessemer Land and Improvement Co.. capital.. .$ 2,500,000 

The Carolina Real Estat iany, capital 300,000 

The South Bessemer Homestead Company, capital. . 250,000 

The Natchez Land and Improvement Co., capital. . . 200,000 

The Orleans Land and Building Company, capital.. . 100,000 

The Richmond Building Company, capital 60,000 

The Bessemer Investment Company, capital 40,000 

The Magnetic Ore Company, capital 500,000 

This Company owns many thousand acres of 
choice and rich mineral lands surrounding and 
in proximity to Bessemer. 

Aggregating S 3.950,000 

The Bessemer Building and Loan Association, author- 
ized capital 250,000 

Has been in operation since the 1st of January, 
1888. 
Adding the total of the capital of the land and build- 
ing companies, excepting the last mentioned com- 
pany 1 whose capital will require seven years in 
which to mature), we have showing the amount 
invested in the industries of Bessemer, with the 
capital of its various land and building companies, 

rand total of $l6.2r,3,000 

THE CHURCH AND SCHOOL FACILITIES. 

The following denominations have church buildings of ample 
capacities erected in the city of Bessemer 

31 



The Methodist Episcopal South. 

The Episcopalians. 

The Presbyterians. 

The Baptists. 

The Cumberland Presbyterians. 

The Roman Catholics. 

All the foregoing have regular service except the Cumberland 
Presbyterians. 

The colored people have churches and regular services of the 
following denominations: 

The Baptists. 

The Methodists. 

The city keeps up three public schools, two white and one 
colored. 

There are several private schools in and in proximity to the 
city, some of which have obtained a high standard. 

BUILDING SUPPLIES. 

Materials for construction are obtainable in Bessemer at most 
reasonable rates. 

The ground is of the character that enables the use of cellars. 
The deposits are firm, insuring stable foundations; stone is had for 
the quarrying. Building brick is sold at seven to eight dollars per 
thousand; lime in quantities at sixty cents per barrel. 

Choice yellow pine lumber is sold by the thousand feet, as fol- 
lows: Rough and framing, $9 to $11 ; flooring, $12.50 to $17; weather 
boarding, $10 to $12; finishing stuff, $14 to $16; shingles, cypress, 
$2 to $3 per thousand. 

Sash, doors, mouldings, scroll, stair work, etc., all done in Bes- 
semer at proportionately low rates. 

Metal cornice work and mouldings, iron roofing, pillars and 
framing manufactured and constructed in Bessemer are furnished at 
rates as low, if not lower, than anywhere in this country. 

Elegant homes of modern architecture, with the usual modern 
appointments and conveniences are erected at a cost of from two to 
three thousand dollars. 




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Valtigs it] Bessgrqe^ 



REAL ESTATE. 



Values in Bessemer are more stable and less liable to fluctuation 
than has heretofore been the case. The highest price asked and 
paid for lots on the opening sale day, the 12th of April. 1887, was 
seventy-five (75) dollars per front foot. The least price asked by the 
Bessemer Land and Improvement Company on the opening sale day 
and since is ten (10) dollars per front foot; this for residence prop- 
erty. The highest price paid for an unimproved lot in Bessemer was 
one hundred and fifteen (115) dollars per front foot, 

The present valuation of unimproved city property is from ten 
(10) to one hundred and fifty (150) dollars per front foot. Good 
business lots can be purchased at from forty to one hundred 
dollars, and residence lots at from ten to fifty dollars per front 
foot. Residence lots in suburban places and additions to the city 
plat can be purchased as low as three dollars per front foot. Larger 
plats of land for residence purposes within a mile and a half to two 
miles of the center of the city can be purchased in acre tracts for a 
hundred and fifty dollars. 

Business lots, except key lots, have a frontage of twenty-five 
feet, and a depth, except in the corners, of one hundred and forty 
feet ; on corners and key lots, one hundred feet, and fronts of latter, 
twenty feet. The Bessemer Land and Improvement Company resi- 
dence lots are fifty feet front and one hundred and forty to one 
hundred and ninety feet deep. Lots in additions to the city and 
suburban plats vary in size. 

Over two thousand lots have been sold in Bessemer, of which 
over fifteen hundred have been sold by the Bessemer Land and Im- 
provement Company. Over one-half of the lots within the fire limits 
or business portion (an area of twenty blocks and six hundred and 
twenty-two lots) have been sold. Purchases have been made princi- 
pally by investors settling or intending to settle permanently in Bes- 
semer, and not by speculators, simply purchasing for an advance. 

Eligible residence lots can be obtained at this time within a 
half a dozen blocks of the business portion of the city at ten dollars 
per foot front, and business lots within the fire limits at fifty dollars 
per foot front. 

34 







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Improved property, both residence and business, can be obtained 
at proportionate values, adding the cost of improvement to the 
prices of lots as given. 

RENTS. 

Neat two room cottages, plastered, rent at six dollars monthly; 
with rough kitchen attached at seven; three, four and five room 
houses from nine to fifteen dollars; nice, commodious five, six, seven 
and eight room houses from fifteen to thirty-five dollars. 

Business houses and store rooms bring a rent from twenty to 
seventy-five dollars per month. 

MARKETS. 

The city has established a regular market for the sale of meats, 
fish, vegetables, etc., which is kept under strict regulation. 

Meats, fresh, bring generally ten cents per pound ; the choicest 
cuts of beef are sold at ten cents; fresh pork and sausage and choice 
mutton and veal at ten cents. 

Cured meats at nine cents and up ; chickens sell at $1.25 to $3 
per dozen. Game is quite abundant — partridges, wild turkey, rab- 
bits, squirrels and venison being in the market. 

Eggs generally bring ten to fifteen cents per dozen, and butter 
twenty-five to thirty-five cents per pound. 

Fruits in season are very cheap, and the variety is very large 
and the quality excellent. Blackberries grow large and luscious. 
Peaches are in the greatest abundance and of the finest varieties 
from local orchards. Strawberries and cherries are abundant and 
cheap in season. Apples are always abundant. 

Vegetables of every variety are raised in profusion, and though 
cheap, bring constantly remunerative prices. 

Milk is retailed at ten cents a quart for fresh sweet milk, and 
ten cents a gallon for butter milk and sour milk. 

Ice is delivered at fifty cents per hundred pounds. 

Bread is delivered at twenty-eight pound loaves for one dollar. 

Watermelons and cantaloupes of the best varieties retail in their 
season from five to twenty-five cents each. The season lasts three 
months and longer. 

Good milch cows can be purchased from twenty-five to sixty 
dollars each, the latter price for registered stock. The finer grades 
of cattle thrive in this section. The native stock furnish excellent 
milkers, yielding two and a half to four gallons of milk daily. 

Good riding and driving horses can be bought at seventy-five to 
one hundred and fifty dollars each ; a good, safe horse with top buggy 
and harness can be bought for one hundred and fifty dollars. 

38 




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Furniture and house furnishing goods are sold at low rates and 
on the installment plan. 

In the line of mercantile supplies, Bessemer can compete with 
any city of its size. There are in the city about seventy business 
establishments at this time. 

WAGES. 

The wages of common labor vary from $[ to $1.50 per day. The 
bulk of it is colored, and the prevailing rate is one dollar per day. 
Carpenters receive $2 to $3.50 per day; painters $2 to $3 per day; 
masons $3 to $4, and other mechanics in a similar ratio. Coke 
makers and workers earn about $45 monthly ; chargers, off-bearers, 
etc., earn according to skill required and shown ; skilled machinists 
and workmen in the Rolling Mills from $3 to $8 per day. 

Miners in the iron ore mines in the suburbs of Bessemer receive 
from 30 to 45 cents per ton for mining, earning from $2.50 to $6 per 
day and paying their helpers $1.25. 

In the coal mines, miners receive 42^ cents per ton, and earn 
from $2 to $4 per day. 

Within an area of three miles centering at Bessemer, fully 2,500 
workmen, miners and mechanics, and skilled artisans are employed, 
and over $100,000 is paid out monthly in wages. 

ASSESSMENT AND TAXATION. 

Assessments are generally made on about a one-half or less 
actual valuation. 

The State and municipal tax is limited by the Constitution to 
each not to exceed one-half of one per cent. 

The county tax, including road tax, is but thirty-five cents on 
the hundred dollars. 

CONSIDERATIONS TO THE IMMIGRANT. 

Intelligent and self-respecting new home seeker outside of mere 
business or monetary considerations gives a serious thought to the 
conditions which will environ himself and his dependents in the new 
field he may seek. He recognizes that there is something in life 
beyond the fact of money making and money getting. If with this 
facility is combined agreeable, healthy and happy conditions of live. 
lihood, the very acme of successful and contented life is secured. 

The city of Bessemer is located in the foothills of the Appala- 
chian range of mountains, in the descent to the plains which border 
the Gulf of Mexico, and over which the fresh, invigorating breezes of 
the ocean courses unrestricted. Its elevation is high, far above the 
miasmatic and malarial belt, which exempts it from the febrile dis- 

88 













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, 



eases occasionally so prevalent in some sections of the South. It 
lies in the very medial line of the temperate zone, where the long 
summer has no distressing heat nor the brief winter any cruel cold to 
embarrass or embargo labor or to produce noticeable inconveniences 
or untoward sacrifice. 

The air is always fresh and invigorating, bearing the health 
inspiring incense of the pine and cedar. Life here possesses every 
charm that nature is prone to bestow. The most picturesque envi- 
ronments greet the eye ; clear, cold, crystal streams of water reticu- 
late the landscape ; sylvan shades refresh and inspire the traveler. 

There is not exaggeration in this description. These conditions 
impress the mere casual visitor to this section. And with these 
incomparable advantages are coupled the opportunities for sure and 
liberal returns from industrious effort and safe and lucrative invest- 
ment for capital. 

The most superficial investigation upon the part of the intending 
immigrant cannot fail to impress him with the attractions and ad- 
vantages of this section, and with the desirability of establishing here 
his home. 




40 



T\]Q N\Qtan}orp\]Qsis of a Decade. 



The remarkable development of mineral Alabama has been 
barely the work of the past decade. This is specially so of Jones 
Valley. Yet after the war this section was in as deplorable a condition 
as any other part of the South. There seemed no remedy for the 
devastating effects of the war, which had divested it of its wealth 
and comforts. Even hope had almost departed. Hut genius and 
progress ventured into this field, and the dormant agencies which 
had slumbered for countless ages in the neighboring hills, and reposed 
in unvexed quietude in the bowels of the earth, awoke into energetic 
life, and the mists of gloom and want and idleness faded away, and 
the sunshine of prosperity and cheerful activity brightened the beau- 
tiful valley, and to-day from one end to the other, from border to 
border, Jones Valley is almost one scene of ceaseless industries. Its 
population and wealth has increased ten-fold. The ancient furrows, 
relics of another day, when agriculture was the only avenue to main- 
tenance and ease and comfort, still mark the spot in man} - places, and 
are co-incident with the track of railways, the walls of furnaces, the 
lines of populous streets and avenues and other indices of a mightier 
ami more affluent development. The thin wreaths of smoke from 
antique farm houses of the olden time is mingled with the dusky 
volumes from factory chimney and furnace stack, and the evening's 
pastoral quiet and peace is menaced by the fierce rush of the blast, 
and the mounting of huge flames of fire athwart the skies. The 
sweet breath of pine clad hills is tainted and darkened with the black- 
smoke of rushing locomotives, and from one end to the other of the 
valley the echoes are awakened by the numerous voices of a tireless 
activity. Here men are busy laying new tracks of railway — there 
arise the walls of furnaces, rolling mills, factories, shops and resi- 
dences. The aboriginal forests of one day gives places on the morrow 
to streets, avenues and railway depots, and familiar scenes are often 
found by a few days' absence radically changed and improved. No 
place in all the valley is a better exponent of the spirit of industry 
and progress which pervades this section, nor a more striking and 
conclusive exemplification of the wealth of natural resources than 
Bessemer. 

Yet the progress made is but an incident of its capability. 
Where one man gleans to-day a hundred may glean to-morrow. The 

42 













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work immediately at hand centuries cannot exhaust, and its products 
form the superstructure which civilization is building. 

TO-DAY. 

Though but three years have elapsed since the founding of Bes- 
semer, and the larger portion of that period has been subject to a 
general industrial depression, and to the vicissitudes and unsettled 
values consequent upon an exciting national political campaign, yet 
the progress of the city has been marvelous. Beginning with but 
the name, the concentration of a population approximating five 
thousand in number, the erection of one thousand buildings or struc- 
tures, some of them as elaborate and ornate as are found in cities of 
ten times the population, the investment of capital counted by 
millions in the brief period of time mentioned, is an incident in pro- 
gress and history that is not paralleled. 

The development in progress to-day is a fit complement of the 
history already made. As confirming the stability of Bessemer, the 
breadth and strength of its foundation, and its forcible attraction to 
business and capital, the improvements now in progress, and the 
sales of real estate lately effected, aptly illustrate. 

The new city hall lan illustration of which appears on another 
page) has just been completed and occupied. It is a large, imposing 
structure of composite architecture, containing the city offices and 
court room, fire department and jail, and market houses attached. It 
cost some $20,000. Thirty thousand fifty year six per cent, bonds 
of the city were readily placed at 103. 15 to raise funds for city hall 
and for street improvement. 

Several brick blocks are now under construction. Some of them 
are elegant structures, with pressed brick, terra cotta and iron fronts. 
A large opera house or theater block has just been contracted for. 

An enormous 

CAR WORKS PLANT COMPANY, 

with a capital of $1,000,000, with several leading capitalists of the 
East as stockholders, is being organized, to locate in Bessemer. The 
Bessemer Land and Improvement Company has complied with all 
the conditions precedent to its establishment. The plant will be 
the largest in the South, covering many acres of land and requiring 
many extra miles of railway track. It will give employment to 2,000 
skilled mechanics. 

The Blocton, Briarfield and Birmingham Railroad, a continuation 
of the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia system, and which will 
give this city a short and direct line to Mobile, is being rapidly con- 
structed. 

44 




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CONSTRUCTION IN BESSEMER. 

The character of construction in Bessemer is a monument to the 
faith of its founders and citizens. It is fairly represented by the 
illustrations herewith given. 

The Charleston business block, having a frontage of three hun- 
dred feet, three and four stories in height, is a magnificent structure 
of pressed brick and marble and metal cornice work, cost $150,000, 
and would be an ornament to a city of a hundred thousand popu- 
lation. 

The Grand Hotel, three stories, of pressed brick, terra cotta and 
cut stone, one hundred feet frontage on two streets, is an elegantly 
finished building, and cost over $75,000. 

The beautiful and picturesque Montezuma cost $75,000, and is 
one of the most attractive specimens of architecture in the South. 
It has a frontage of 194 feet, and a depth of 200. It is in a park of 
ten acres. 

The First National Bank of Bessemer block, architecturally, is 
of the most artistic and elaborate design. It is elegantly fitted and 
furnished, and has a large thoroughly fire and burglar proof vault 
with time locks. 

The new office building of the Bessemer Land and Improvement 
Company is a superb representation of the best styles of modern 
architecture — chaste in design and complete in adaptation. It is 
two stories, of fine pressed brick, stone and stucco work. Within it is 
exquisitely finished in native wood, with elaborate and elegant 
furnishings. 

There are in the city various other costly business blocks, as 
well as some very handsome and expensive residences. 




46 



Tii^ iv'jiiwviv Systenj ^< Bessemer 

In .m ai 

'Ilii 

The Louisville and Nashvilli Mineral Line. 

Tli. nd Huntsv illc Railroad 

'I'll id. 

'I hi K ty, Mem] 

The r and I a Railroad, 

•it 1 1- 1 and I i in Railv 

All "f these lim and 

Huntsville i on the i 

upMurphre< y, with its ultim nal point at Huntsvi 




The Bessemer and Tuscaloosa is completed to a point i 
Addison, lacking only about fifteen miles 

iding for its extension is being prosecuted. From function a 
branch runs to W cting there with the Alabama 

i Southern and the Blocton Coal Mines Railway. 

I hi Mobile and Bessemer, part of the East Ten ;inia 

and ■ i. is now being rapidly graded from Briarfield, 

with [ir.iini ompletion by the Company by mid-summer. It 

will complete a trunk line to Mob 

The Birmingham, Powderly and Bessemer Street Railway is 
graded to Bessemer, and is running to within three miles of the city. 
The Company expects to complete the line within a month. 

Both of these latter roads center within the area mentioned. 



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FiVe AjirfdtQs /\bodt Bessgrrier, 

Alabama's foundations for wealth are in her four leading pro- 
ducts — iron, coal, timber, cotton. 

In 1880 Alabama's pig iron output was 77,190. In 1890 Besse- 
mer furnaces alone will put out 250,000 tons! ! Worth $4,000,000!!! 

The magnitude of the wealth of the South in coal is beyond 
computation. The entire coal area of Great Britain covers 11,900 
square miles ; Alabama 10,680 square miles. The Warrior (Ala.) 
Coal field alone contain 7,800 square miles. Prof. McCalley's geolog- 
ical report says: ''The coal measures contain fifty-three seams of 
coal some 14 feet thick, having a combined thickness of 125 feet of 
pure coal." Bessemer is in the midst of this vast coal business, 
and factories located here buy coal at &I.25 per ton, delivered! 

Iron and coal have made Pennsylvania enormously rich ; Ala- 
bama will, in 1890, be the Pennsylvania of the whole Union. 

The Northwest has found in its timber a source of untold wealth. 
The primeval forests of Alabama, developed, would alone make the 
State wealthy. 

Alabama has 53 per cent, of her lands in forests — yellow pine, 
yellow poplar, all the oaks, ash, hickory, gum, chestnut, maple, wal- 
nut, cedar, cherry, beech, bosswood, pecan, persimmon, dogwood, 
and buckeye are abundant. Bessemer a good place for wood-work- 
ing industries. 

The cotton crop of 1866-67 was 2,097,254 bales ; in 1889-90 over 
7,000,000 bales. The South is rising up ! Alabama is a leading State, 
producing cotton wealth, and can supply cotton mills with coal at 
$1.25 a ton at Bessemer. 

The mean temperature in Alabama is only 64 in spring, 8o° in 
summer, 64 in autumn, and 54 in winter. Extreme colds are, of 
course, unknown. Summer nights cool. 

Alabama's assessed values have doubled between 1880 and 1890. 
The State indebtedness, per capita, has been reduced from §8.15 in 
1880 to $4.63 in 1889; the rate of taxation decreased from an aver- 
age of 1H3 in 1876 to 4% mills in 1889. Money grows fast in 
Alabama, and very fast at Bessemer. 

The annual death rate in the United States per 1,000 is 15.09; in 
Indian. 1 15.78; in Missouri 16.89; m New York 17.38; in District of 
Columbia 23.60 ; in Alabama 1+20. Exceptionally health}- in Bes- 
semer— only 9 per 1,000 last year. 

Jefferson county, in which Bessemer is, had 24,000 population in 
1880; the present census will aggregate 120,000. 

Alabama's climate is mild and genial; free from extremes of 
heat and cold; it is heathful. To people in ice-latitudes, who freeze 
six months every year, and are half the remaining year thawing out, 
Alabama should be as inviting to them as was the "promised land" 
to the Israelites emerging from the wilderness. Come to Bessemer! 




